An Agreed Statement on the Sanctity of Marriage U.S. Theological Consultation, 1978

Introduction

At a time when the sacred character of
married life is radically threatened by contrary lifestyles,
we the members of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic Consultation
feel called by the Lord to speak from the depth of our common
faith and to affirm the profound meaning, the "glory
and honor," of married life in Christ.

I. The Sacramental Character of
Marriage

For Christians of both the Orthodox and
Roman Catholic Churches marriage is a sacrament. Through
the prayers and actions of our wedding rites we profess
the presence of Christ in the Spirit and believe that it
is the Lord who unites a man and a woman in a life of mutual
love. In this sacred union, husband and wife are called
by Christ not only to live and work together, but also to
share their Christian life so that each with the aid of
the other may progress through the Holy Spirit in the life
of holiness and so achieve Christian perfection. This relationship
between husband and wife is established and sanctified by
the Lord. As a sacred vocation, marriage mirrors the union
of Christ and the church (Eph. 5:23).

Christ affirmed and blessed the oneness
and profound significance of marriage. Christian tradition,
following his teaching, has always proclaimed the sanctity
of marriage. It has defined marriage as the fundamental
relationship in which a man and woman, by total sharing
with each other, seek their own growth in holiness and that
of their children, and thus show forth the presence on earth
of God's kingdom.

II. Enduring Vocation

The special character of the human relationship
established through marriage has always been recognized
in the Christian tradition. By sanctifying the marital bond,
the church affirms a permanent commitment to personal union,
which is expressed in the free giving and acceptance of
each other by a man and a woman. The sacrament of marriage
serves as an admirable example of the union which exists
between God and the believer. The Old Testament uses marriage
to describe the covenant relationship between God and his
people (Hosea). The Letter to the Ephesians sees marriage
as the type of relationship which exists between Christ
and his church (Eph. 5:31-35). Consequently both the Orthodox
and Roman Catholic churches affirm the permanent character
of Christian marriage: "What God has joined together,
let no man put asunder" (Mt. 19:6).

However, the Orthodox Church, out of
consideration of the human realities, permits divorces,
after it exhausts all possible efforts to save the marriage
and tolerates remarriages in order to avoid further human
tragedies. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the dissolution
of sacramental nonconsummated marriages either through solemn
religious profession or by papal dispensation. To resolve
the personal and pastoral issues of failed marriages which
have been consummated an inquiry is often undertaken to
uncover whether there exists some initial defect in the
marriage covenant which would render the marriage invalid.

III. The Redeeming Effect of Marital
Love

A total sharing of a life of love and
concern is not possible apart from God. The limitations
of human relationships do not allow for a giving and receiving
which fulfill the partners. However, in the life of the
church, God gives the possibility of continual progress
in the deepening of human relationships. By opening the
eyes of faith to the vision that these relationships have
as their goal, God offers a more intimate union with himself.
Through the liberating effect of divine love, experienced
through human love, believers are led away from self-centeredness
and self-idolatry. The Gospel indicates the direction that
this love must ultimately take: toward intimate union with
the One Who alone can satisfy the fundamental yearning of
people for self-fulfillment.

Given this vision of reality, Christian
tradition recognizes that the total devotion of the married
partners implies as its goal a relationship with God. It
teaches, moreover, that the love which liberates them to
seek union with God and which is the source of sanctification
for them is made possible through the presence of the Spirit
of God within them.

Through the love manifested in marriage,
an important witness is given to the world of the love of
God in Christ for all people. The partners in Christian
marriage have the task, as witnesses of redemption, to accept
as the inner law of their personal relationship that love
which determines the relationship between Christ and the
church: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her" (Eph. 5:25).
Through this love which liberates believers from selfish
interests and sanctifies their relationships, the Christian
husband and wife find the inspiration in turn to minister
in loving service to others.

IV. Theological Clarifications on
Christian Marriage

In the teaching of the Orthodox and Roman
Catholic Churches a sacramental marriage requires both the
mutual consent of the believing Christian partners and God's
blessing Imparted through the ministry of the church.

At present there are differences in the
concrete ways in which this ministry must be exercised in
order to fulfill the theological and canonical norms for
marriage in our two churches. There are also differences
in the theological interpretation of this diversity. Thus
the Orthodox Church accepts as sacramental only those marriages
sanctified in the liturgical life of the church by being
blessed by an Orthodox priest.

The Catholic Church accepts as sacramental
the marriages which are celebrated before a Catholic priest
or even a deacon, but it also envisions some exceptional
cases in which, by reason of a dispensation or the unavailability
of a priest or deacon, Catholics may enter into a sacramental
marriage in the absence of an ordained minister of the church.

An examination of the diversities of
practice and theology concerning the required ecclesial
context for Christian marriage that have existed in both
traditions demonstrates that the present differences must
be considered to pertain more to the level of secondary
theological reflection than to that of dogma. Both churches
have always agreed that the ecclesial context is constitutive
of the Christian sacrament of marriage. Within this fundamental
agreement various possibilities of realization are possible
as history has shown and no one form of this realization
can be considered to be absolutely normative in all circumstances.

V. Plans for Further Study

The members of the Orthodox-Roman Catholic
Consultation give thanks to God for this common faith in
the sanctity of marriage which we share in our sister churches.
We recognize however that pastoral problems remain to be
studied in depth, such as the liturgical celebration of
weddings between Orthodox and Roman Catholic partners and
the religious upbringing of children in such families. We
continue to explore these questions out of a common vision
of marriage and with confidence in the guidance of the Holy
Spirit.